- Even more on Henry Wiencek (see below), whose book, Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves, is now available. The New York Times (26-Nov-2012) gives background to the Wiencek book, which is not only a disagreement on attribution and facts, but also an ongoing conflict between university scholars and independent scholars.
Some Scholars Reject Dark Portrait of Jefferson
America had a common language, unlike the European nations, none of which was linguistically homogeneous. in 1789 the majority of Frenchmen did not speak French but were divided by a variety of provincial patois. Englishmen from Yorkshire were incomprehensible to those from Cornwall and vice versa. By contrast, Americans could understand one another from Maine to Georgia. It was very obvious why this should be so, said John Witherspoon, president of Princeton. Since Americans were much more unsettled, and move frequently from place to place, they are not as liable to local peculiarities, either in accent or phraseology.
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)